1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to energy generation, and particularly to a carbon-free fire tube boiler that minimizes carbon dioxide exhaust into the environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications. A fire tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases from a fire pass through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat energy from the gases passes through the sides of the tubes by thermal conduction, convection and radiative heat transfer, heating the water and ultimately creating steam.
Fire tube boilers are well known, particularly since steam locomotives used fire tube boilers as their source of propulsion. In the locomotive-type boiler, fuel is burned in a firebox to produce hot combustion gases. The firebox is surrounded by a cooling jacket of water connected to the long, cylindrical boiler shell. The hot gases are directed along a series of fire tubes, or flues, that penetrate the boiler and heat the water thereby generating saturated steam. The steam rises to the highest point of the boiler, i.e., the “steam dome”, where it is collected. The dome is the site of the regulator that controls the exit of steam from the boiler.
In the fire tube boiler, the saturated steam is very often passed into a superheater, back through the larger flues at the top of the boiler, to dry the steam and heat it to superheated steam. The superheated steam is directed to an industrial process or, very rarely, to a turbine to produce mechanical work. Exhaust gases are fed out through a chimney, and may be used to pre-heat the feed water to increase the efficiency of the boiler.
Such steam-based sources of mechanical power have been adapted to a wide variety of fields. However, despite their myriad uses, fire tube boilers typically produce great quantities of exhaust, particularly due to their primary reliance upon the combustion of fossil fuels. It would be desirable to provide the great adaptability, and relative simplicity, of the fire tube boiler without the production of environmentally harmful exhaust products.
Thus, a carbon-free fire tube boiler solving the aforementioned problems is desired.